154 



COLORADO. 



COMMERCE OF THE U. S. 



ering into the State treasury all interest accruing 

 upon State funds and fixing a salary tor the State^ 

 Treasurer commensurate with the responsibilities of 

 his office. 



That the interests of the people of this State re- 

 quire of the next Legislature the passage of a wise 

 and judicious railroad law ; that we believe the pub- 

 lic welfare will be best promoted by the creation of 

 a railroad commission, composed of three men thor- 

 oughly acquainted with the commercial and economic 

 condition of the State, and we demand that whatever 

 railroad law is passed shall invest said commission 

 with the power to revise the rates of the carriage of 

 either passengers or freight. 



That we demand a thorough revision of the irriga- 

 tion law ; that we deprecate the practice in vogue of 

 ditch companies selling and receiving pay in advance 

 for water which they can not possibly deliver. 



That the Legislature is requested at the coming 

 session of the General Assembly to enact a law estab- 

 lishing a State Board of Charities and Corrections. 



The Democratic State Convention met at Den- 

 ver on Sept. 25 and nominated Caldwell Yeaman 

 for Governor, Platt Rogers for Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, William F. Forman for Secretary of State, 

 James N. Carlile for State Treasurer, William 

 T. Skelton for Auditor, Joseph H. Maupin for 

 Attorney-General, Nathan B. Coy for Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction, Henry 0. Monta- 

 gue and Charles M. Ford for Regents of the 

 State University, and Thomas J. O'Donnell for 

 Congressman. 



Local questions, especially those relating to 

 the conduct of the State government for the past 

 two years, took precedence in the canvass over 

 national issues. This was largely due to the 

 course of the Denver " Republican," an influen- 

 tial Republican journal, which early in 1889 

 began to assail the State government. It first 

 attacked the General Assembly for passing ap- 

 propriations that were known to exceed largely 

 the revenue available for their payment. It 

 then called public attention to the action of the 

 Secretary of State arid the Auditor in approving 

 exorbitant bills for State printing, etc. ; and its 

 charges of corruption led to the indictment and 

 trial above considered, in which they were con- 

 demned for negligence, though the charge of 

 conspiracy failed. The State Treasurer and his 

 predecessors were charged by the same journal 

 with converting to their own use the interest 

 on the public funds. Finally, the "Republi- 

 can " held up to public censure the State Board 

 of Land Commissioners for its action in the 

 Argo land sale, so-called. This was a sale of 

 320 acres belonging to the State school fund, in 

 or near the city of Denver. Although advertised 

 according to the letter of the law, the sale was 

 so little known that but few bidders were present 

 at the auction on Feb. 14, and an average price 

 of only $303 an acre was obtained for land worth 

 at least twice as much. The board, consisting 

 of the Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney- 

 General, and Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tinn, was vigorously assailed by the "Republi- 

 can" for sacrificing the public interests in a 

 manner that was at least suspicious. In view of 

 all these events, the " Republican " asserted that 

 the State was being plundered, or its affairs 

 grossly mismanaged, by its highest officials, and 

 demanded that every member of the State gov- 

 ernment should be retired to private life. Sev- 

 eral of the officials so attacked did not deem it 



prudent to seek a renomination, and the Repub- 

 lican State Convention decided to place only two 

 of them again in the field, Attorney -General 

 Jones and Superintendent of Public Instruction 

 Dick. The " Republican " thereupon advised its 

 followers to defeat these two at the polls, and 

 refused to give the Republican candidate for 

 Treasurer any substantial support, on the 

 ground that he was allied with the faction that 

 controlled the existing State government. Each 

 of the candidates for Treasurer deemed it ad- 

 visable to enter into a strict pledge, binding him- 

 self to cover into the State treasury all in- 

 terest on the public funds. The result of the 

 election in November seemed to indicate an ap- 

 proval by the voters of the course of the " Re- 

 publican," every candidate on the Republican 

 ticket whom it opposed being defeated. The 

 plurality for Gov. Routt and other successful 

 members of his ticket was about 8,000, while 

 Fesler for Treasurer was about 3,500 votes behind 

 Carlile, the Democratic candidate ; Jones for 

 Attorney-General was defeated by Maupin by a 

 few hundred votes, and Dick for Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction was defeated by Coy by 

 about 1,800 votes. The next General Assembly, 

 whose members were chosen at this time, will be 

 Republican by a reduced majority. 



Two amendments to the State Constitution, 

 authorizing the General Assembly to increase 

 the number and salary of judges within certain 

 limits, were defeated. 



COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

 The total value of the imports of merchandise 

 into the United States during the year ending 

 June 30, 1890, was $789,222,228, compared with 

 $745,131,652 in 1888-'89, which was higher than 

 in any previous year. The total exports of mer- 

 chandise amounted to $857,824,834 in 1889-90, 

 against $742,401,375 in the preceding year. The 

 import trade was the greatest in the history of 

 the country, and the exports were only exceed- 

 ed by those of 1881, which were nearly $45,000,- 

 000 more in value. The total volume of com- 

 merce was $1,647,047,062, or about $159,600,000 

 more than the previous year, which was the 

 highest hitherto recorded. Imports were stimu- 

 lated by the expectation of the tariff being 

 raised by congressional legislation. From 1876 

 till 1887 the exports of the United States always 

 exceeded the imports every year, the average ex- 

 cess being $134,388,312. In 1887-'88 and the 

 following year the imports were in excess, while 

 in 1890, notwithstanding the abnormal import 

 movement, the old position of exports is restored. 

 Whereas in 1888-'89 there was a balance against 

 the United States in the merchandise movement 

 of $2,730,277 at the end of the year, in 1889-90 

 there was an excess of exports over imports 

 amounting to $68,602,606 at the close, notwith- 

 standing the unexampled amount of the impor- 

 tations, exceeding those of the previous year 

 by $44,090,576. During July and August, 1889, 

 there was, as usual, an excess of imports, which 

 amounted to $24.871,856. The balance shifted 

 earlier than usual, being $15,517,670 in favor of 

 the United States at the end of September, and 

 to this were added $34,719,042 excess of exports 

 in October, $37,002,926 in November, $11,988,706 

 in December, $7,218,345 in Jamiary, and $5,4gfc- 

 415 in March. In April there was an excess of 



